Week 9, Thing 23: Summarize Thoughts

Woohoo! I'm finished, or I will be as soon as I finish this blog and submit my log. What a summer! I never thought I'd get this done, let alone on time.
1.) My favorite discoveries were generators, YouTube and blogs. The most useful things for library use might be wikis, online productivity tools, podcasting and audiobooks.
2.) Learning about all of these emergent technologies brought me into the 21st century. I actually was able to tell my son something he didn't know, and he's in the IST field! And my daughter called me "TechnoMom."
3.) I was surprised how I didn't mind blogging, and I spent entirely too much time looking at other people's blogs! And I was basically surprised that I could actually do this whole program. The main things I would take away from this is an understanding and overview of Web 2.0, and an exposure to all the tools out there in cyberspace and where to find them.
4.) The format and concept were good, as it was easy to follow and you could go at your own speed, which for me was very slow! Some of the sites were frustrating but that's probably unavoidable. However, it would have been easier for me if it had been spread out over a longer period of time, or offered at another time of year. Summer is the busiest time of year for circ staff, and this summer was extremely busy. So I had to do most of this at home. For this reason...
5.)...I might do this again if I could do most of it at work or could spread it out over a longer period of time.
6.) Having said that, the future of libraries involves technology and we simply need to be kept up-to-date. We need to learn about all this stuff to remain a viable organization and to keep up with or ahead of our patrons.

Week 9, Thing 22: Audiobooks

I didn't realize so many audiobook titles were available through our library. I did find a couple of titles I might want to download; and if I finish this program by tomorrow, I'll be able to download them on an mp3 player!
Project Gutenberg was very interesting in that it seems to be done by volunteers. It had many choices on it, from "The Raven" by Poe to an encyclopedia volume. Digitizing books seems to be a mission for them.

Week 9, Thing 21: Podcasts

I looked at the 3 suggested podcast directories and the Merlin podcasting learning link. One needed a software download just to listen, and Yahoo needed a software download to subscribe. I couldn't locate an RSS feed to add to my Bloglines account from Yahoo, but did add a book review podcast series from Podcast.net to my Bloglines.
What was most useful was the Merlin link to other library sites and how they were using podcasts. (As an aside, the Westerville Public Library site was neat; it had some interesting online activities for teens. Maybe we could do teen book reviews in podcast form on our website!)

Life cereal: Mikey likes it!

Week 9, Thing 20: YouTube

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vYEXzx-TINc
(This is the link to the video; actual video will be on next post.)
I was glad to find this video. When my son Michael was small, we used to tease him and say, "Give it to Mikey. He eats everything!" And he did. But I couldn't remember if the little boy in the commercial actually said, "He eats everything!" or "He hates everything!" I'm glad I finally found out.

I had a lot of fun with this site. I liked the extremely easy search tool, the ratings and the comments. Could we have a video contest for teens on Teens Connect? Could we show updates of the Finksburg project or any renovation project with video? Could we make videos advertising upcoming programs? How about ratings and comments on dvd's, or books, for that matter? How about a monthly video highlighting a library service the public might not be familiar with? I think I'm out of ideas.

Week 8, Thing 19: Web 2.0 Awards

I looked at a lot tools and liked 3 in particular.
For fun, try www.onesentence.org where participants try to tell a story in one sentence. Some are sad, some are funny, most are interesting.
Under books, I liked www.biblio.com. I had been looking for books from my youth that appear to be out of print (namely the Cherry Ames series) and found them there for sale, and cheap!
For office use, you can't beat Google Docs for collaborative writing. As I understand it, you can create a document, and all involved can make changes with all revisions recorded. You don't need to send it as an attachment in email and wait for an answer. All you need is a browser. I think we really could have made much use of this last year on the evaluation team, where we had many documents (evaluations and behavior lists) that needed to be commented on and revised.

Week 8, Thing 18: Online Productivity Tools

I created accounts in Zoho Writer (another one of those "Where did they get that name?" apps) and 30 boxes, which is an online calendar. I created a document in Zoho writer and then emailed it to myself; I could have emailed it to others, right? I'll have to try that later. What's great about it is that a document can be created on a computer without Word software and sent to one that has it. Right? I'll bet Bill Gates didn't like this!
30 boxes could be such a useful tool; it'd be nice to be able to access your schedule from any computer. No more bulky planner?

Week 7, Thing 17: Sandbox Wiki

This site was interesting and easy to use. I didn't realize how easy it was to make a wiki even though I've worked with them at our library. Reading about everyone's favorites and reading others' blogs was fun. Do all humans like to write about themselves?

Week 7, Thing 16; Wikis

I love Wikipedia! I often use it to get general info about something I might be curious about but for which I don't need a bibliographic reference. And it can be very up-to-date since it can be continually edited. I just remember that the info I get there can be wrong!

Annotating the catalogue with book reviews as Amazon does is a good idea; of course this might have to be limited or edited. The Library Success wiki was a good thought but it doesn't seem to be added to much; a wiki is only good if people add to it and update it.

We used a wiki for a team project I was on where the entire staff was asked to comment on documents the team generated. It was a success, partly because staff felt they could comment at any time and could see changes, and partly because it took a while to actually get the documents on our intranet.

Week 6, Thing 15: Library 2.0

I read all articles and think that the futurist had the best perspective. Yes, libraries can be the source of digital information and collections. (Even when I was in college back in the stone age the name of the librarian degree was "Information Science" not "Book Science.") But if libraries are to remain viable, they must see the forest, not the trees. Libraries are not just collections; they are places to meet, introduce children to reading, find respite, etc. Maybe, like the futurist says, the library of the future will absorb 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0!

Week 6, Technorati

Where do they come up with these names? Technorati? Del.icio.us? BoingBoing? Am I missing something?
Anyhow, I explored this site and found 3,463 blog posts, 202 blogs, 12 videos and lots of photos when searching for "Learning 2.0." The top favorited blog is boingboing, but it is not interesting to me at all. And the top searches were, shall we say, questionable?However, Technorati is a great site for those who love to blog and spend a lot of time doing it. It is a great organizer and search tool for blogs. I am amazed at how many people are blogging.

Week 6, T hing 13:Tagging and Del.icio.us

The tutorial for Del.icio.us was small and blurry but I think I got the gist of it. This is a great tool for those doing research on a particular topic or for accessing your "favorites" from any computer. But since I do most of my computer searching at home, I'll be happy just to list my favorites and feeds on my toolbar there.
I did have a good time looking at PLCMC's account. It led me to Cha-Cha, a search engine (?) I'd never heard of, which led me to a great site I'd never found before. The web 2.0 Directory was interesting also. I also took the time to read some of PLCMC's blogs about their 23 things experiences; some were hilarious!

Week 5, Thing 12: Rollyo

Select...SteelersSearch The Web

I created a roll for one of my husband's favorite football teams; I'll see if he uses it since he says it's just as easy to go to his favorite web sites. I can see the value of it for library use, though. I might go back and make another one for something I can use at work or home.

Week 5, Thing 11: Library Thing

I raally liked this "thing." I'd like to return to it to see some reviews of the books I catalogued. It's very easy to use and might have a lot of potential for info staff.

Week 5, Thing 10: Online Image Generators

This is the avatar I created in Yahoo. I had a blast with all of these generators.

Week 4, Thing 9: Merlin and Related Feeds

I added a few more feeds to my list, including Merlin. Feedster was the easiest tool to use, but I didn't find some things I was looking for and I found a lot of unuseful stuff. I prefer to subscribe to news organizations instead of blogs unless a blog can give me a different way of looking at things. I just went to their web sites and copied and pasted the URL into my bloglines account. We'll see how that goes! Some of the feeds I subscribed to were automatically put on my husband's home page (since I was using his laptop at home to do this) instead of my bloglines account.

Week 4, Thing 8:Rss Feeds

I subscribed to 10 newsfeeds. The tutorial was good though out of date. Once I got the hang of it, it was easy. I think I will go back and cancel some feeds and pick up others. I was so surprised I could subscribe to the New York Times! And I got some neat pix on flickr of San Diego, where we just vacationed. But, I honestly don't know if I'll have the time to look at this stuff daily; I usually like to get most news from the radio, newspapers and newsmagazines. (Old media but tried and true!)